Afghan Bewilderment

by paradox

But let me not be too negative, Paul Krugman writes today, a sentiment that runs in my head about 40 times every time I try political analyses these days. At 32 days without cigarettes I am still often seething with impatience and combativeness, and the Bush administration blew up so much it seems like the list of totally urgent problems never ends, somehow our new President has to do so much right, so quickly. There is very little room for error or we really toss a significant part of our future and population to the winds, we can’t afford the trivialities and petty dishonesty of the past.

Two other extremely important variables heavily tug my restraint when writing about negativity for the Obama administration, loyalty and teamwork. President Obama has a critical healthcare fight coming up and I deeply worry pointing out terrible policy choices in other areas might weaken his other critical and correct current policy initiatives, I never, ever take negative criticism of Obama lightly. I like the Daily Kos community very much but there is a line with the hordes of Obama partisans there, always hazy, that gets crossed when criticizing the President or noting the obvious idolatry in some threads, all of a sudden one is implacably the Enemy in relentless emotional irrationality. Break out the recipes! my recent work earned by some fanatic, the Kossack war call for ignoring a site troll.

I’ve got better things to do than get depressed over horrifying policy failure which only delivers juvenile sneering from people who used to be my friends. The various impressively credentialed folks I take direction from lately are completely incredulous I politically write at all, the daily negative inputs are appalling, but I know I’ve got the ability to convey my political duty well with text, so I insist on doing it. On mornings like these the stupidity and irrationality of that stance is driven sharply home, but for now I will trudge on in blog screens, kitchen scrapbook resolutely in tow.

The United States of America, with Obama owning the event as CIC in a war he escalated, killed between 60-120 civilians last week in one Afghanistan battle error, the hard numbers are impossible to know from press reports. Secretary Clinton apologized to her puppets, but the Pentagon anonymously leaked we may have blown up a lot children after denying it. We blew up and shattered at least 60 Afghanistan lives last week, that much is certain.

President Obama can forget about his Afghanistan victory fantasies, they’re never happening without the people of Afghanistan and they’re never, ever with us as long as we insist on blithely blowing them up. I’ve watch the denial and ho-hum acceptance of American butchering of civilians the last five days and among bloggers only John Cole, far as I know, really did the subject justice. The Afghans, of course, are outraged, repulsed, and howling with rage. Civilian bombing deaths from Americans have been going on a long time there.

Had I given out those foolish 100 day grades Obama would have got an foreign policy F for his foray of futility in Afghanistan. It also would have implacably given him at least a C for overall, possibly a D, for mistakes that kill innocent children are very different than other policy mistakes. Let us not be too negative, yes, so I abandoned the idea at the time.

Killing children by mistake in a war we cannot win is horrifying failure to me, sorry, I’m always bewildered why it isn’t openly acknowledged and instantly stopped.

Where are the Christians, the Prince of Peace their revered leader? Nowhere, the Republicans still in the pews, peace means trouble we don’t know how to handle, prayer and peace group pamphlets will have to do. The fanatical right-to-lifers? Ha, why bother even asking? What about my own people, the partisan liberal Democrats? Clearly unhappy with Afghanistan policy but neither having the will or ability to change it. No judgment there in the least, it just means the deaths of innocent civilians from American Air Force bombs goes on and on and on, oh well.

It means everything to the Afghan people, go figure how policy that blows up their children is objectionable and a failure with them. Go figure how America resolutely carries on even though total failure was just set in stone, we will never, ever achieve objectives in Afghanistan while blowing up their families.

It just bewilders me how the horrifying futility never ends. We can’t do this as a country and succeed, ever, why doesn’t that truth ever widely sink home?